MAP08: Cold Reception (Community Chest 4)

MAP08: Cold Reception is the eight map of Community Chest 4. It was designed by Mithran Denizen and uses a MIDI rendition of "Quad Machine," a music track from  by.

Essentials
Cold Reception is heavy on the cannon fodder and a little short on the ammo and health. Fortunately, you do get a berserk pack relatively early in the map, so you can use it to smash your way through most of the lighter enemies (and with some skill, even the larger ones). While a plain route to the exit is simple, the map has many areas to explore and a high level of connectivity. Both the red keycard and blue keycard are required to exit the map. 100% kills does require accessing most of the secret areas.

Start

You begin on a ledge overlooking a large snowy area. On your left is a black building; on the right is a green building with brown trims. Grab the shotgun ahead. On lower skill levels, you'll have some extra ammunition nearby to help: A box of shells on Hey, not too rough and below, or 4 shotgun shells on Hurt me plenty. Kill the shotgun guy and grab his shotgun for more ammo. Next, turn to the left to find two imps and a zombieman at the far side of the ledge. Kill them by detonating the nearby barrels at the right time.

At this point, you've probably woken up a large number of monsters from the area in the north of the starting point (up to five zombiemen, an imp and a shotgun guy), so you may want to get off that ledge into the snowy area. An imp (Hurt me plenty and above) and a zombieman (Ultra-Violence and above) will take potshots from the ledge protruding from the black building. Two imps and up to two zombiemen will also approach from the narrow snow area between the two buildings. Scavenge for shotgun ammo here, but be careful of the monsters heading onto the starting ledge. If you head towards the crates in the southwest, watch for an imp waiting in ambush there.

Once ready, head south into the narrow snow area. As you approach it, you will see a small brown crate. Equip your shotgun, face left and walk past it. A shotgun guy will be in ambush behind the crate. Continue further south into a large snow area with a frozen waterfall at the far end. This area has a fair amount of ammo, but also a fair amount of zombiemen, imps and one demon in the middle. The biggest threats to your health, though, come from the east and northwest. In the east, a mancubus (three imps on Hey, not too rough and below) awaits in the entrance to the black building. In the northwest, there are two imps and a shotgun guy (not on Hey, not too rough and below) on elevated perches. Take the monsters out, then head east into the entrance where the mancubus was.

Red Key

From the entrance to the black building, head through the doorway in the north. This next room has up to three imps and four zombiemen (the last one is in ambush in the northeast corner). Head through the doorway in the northwest of this room to a square outdoor area with a megasphere on a platform. Deal with up to two zombiemen and two imps here, and grab the berserk pack in the northeast. Return to the previous room in the south, then go down the steps in the southeast. This room has three imps (two on Hey, not too rough and below). From here, head west into a small rocky room. There are up to two zombiemen and two imps here (on Hurt me plenty and above, one zombieman is behind the pillar). From this room, head south.

You are now in a large room with a tiled floor. As you enter, kill the imp in front, and up to two imps on a platform to the left. The main part of the room contains up to three zombiemen and five imps. You may wish to clear the pit in the south with demons to get your hands on a chaingun. Find the passageway in the southwest of the room and head through it. Kill the shotgun guy in it and follow it around into the red key chamber. This room has up to three shotgun guys and two imps. On Ultra-Violence and above, one is waiting in ambush at the corner right after the passageway. Clear them out and grab the red key.

As you return to the large room, you will find that a trap has opened in the southwest, with up to three imps. Monsters will also begin teleporting in from the northwest:


 * Hey, not too rough and below: Two imps, one demon.
 * Hurt me plenty: Three imps, two demons.
 * Ultra-Violence and above: Three imps, two Hell knights.

Blue Key

Return to the outdoor area with the megasphere on a platform. Head through the door in the east of this area to enter a room with grates on the floor. This room has up to three shotgun guys and an imp. A shotgun guy and a cacodemon in an adjacent room with a nukage pit will also be alerted through a window in the northeast. Take out the enemies in this room and grab the blue key in the southwest corner. While you could go through the passageway in the northeast to deal with the shotgun guy and cacodemon in the adjacent room directly, entering that next adjacent room triggers a trap in that room with up to four imps and two demons.

Exit

Backtrack to the outdoor area with the megasphere. Open the red door in the north, and kill the two shotgun guys and imp ahead. Step onto the brown-tiled area, then head back to the outdoor area with the megasphere. Up to five cacodemons will teleport onto the megasphere platform - deal with them now. Once they are all down, head back north through the red door. As you continue north, you will pass a set of four grey crates. Once you walk past it, a panel to the right opens, with up to four demons. You will have to deal with them at the same time as you handle up to three imps and a demon ahead, as well as three Hell knights from a trap further up. Separate out the groups of monsters and take them down.

On the floor is a spot marked with yellow and black stripes. To the northeast is a passageway leading to a blue door. Beyond this blue door is a garden-like area. Most of the enemies in here are cannon fodder and will fall to well-placed chaingun fire (or by using the barrels in the room). However, on Ultra-Violence and above, there is a mancubus directly opposite the blue door. You will probably have to take it out personally.

Head through the garden area, then kill the imp and demon at the end. You will emerge into an outdoor area. The courtyard only has two imps and a zombieman, but the real problem is up to four cacodemons that will appear from behind the walls. Make a beeline for the exit door, then flip the switch inside. the elevator you are on will descend, and shortly after, the map will end.

Other points of interest
From player 1's starting point, turn around and open the silver door. This reveals a small chamber with a stimpack. (On co-op, player 4 spawns here.)

Official

 * 1) Run through the rocky cave southwest of the main outdoor area and head all the way south towards the blue and gray wall behind the broken pipe mesh. If you're fast enough, you'll ride a lowered wall up to the blue-gray wall, which opens into a secret part of the cave with stimpacks, ammo, imps and the yellow skull key.
 * 2) In the same rocky cave (the non-secret section of it), look towards the northwest corner of the cave between an ice wall and a wooden stump to spot a tiny passage (sector 454) leading to an area visible from the entrance of the cave through the translucent ice walls, which contains a box of shotgun shells and a soulsphere.
 * 3) Jump across the rock and ice platforms inside secret #2 and you will exit on an icy ledge near a metal wall visible from the cave entrance. From this ledge, you can drop down onto the well (sector 191) with the megaarmor.
 * 4) Collecting secret #3 lowers a wall on the building on the other side of the icy road, containing two imps and a Hell knight. There is a lift here that you can ride up to a small veranda with a teleporter that drops you right onto the elevated platform (sector 12) with the megasphere in front of the teleporter.
 * 5) From the same icy ledge mentioned in Secret #3, you can open the wall of metal panels to the north to enter the techbase building (sector 156) with a large amount of fodder enemies, ammunition pickups, health and armor bonuses, and two mancubi.
 * 6) In secret #5, press on the recessed brown wall between the two lit patches of floor and you will lower a lift up to a tiny room (sector 692) with a lever switch. This switch opens up one of the doors in the northern part of the map.
 * 7) Also in Secret #5, flip the red-blue switch to both open up the eastern wall and raise a platform in the middle of the two buildings. Hop across the platform to the nearby ledge to the east with the mancubi and take the teleporter. This teleporter takes you back to the beginning, where you will notice a wall opening and zombies attacking you. Go back to secret #5 (you can use the previously mentioned platform as a lift for a shortcut) and you will be able to jump onto the crate (sector 419) that has the super shotgun.
 * 8) Press the switch west of Secret #4, then quickly run south, heading down the steps to the southeast from there, and then through the open door before it closes. Follow the passage to a room with a green armor, rockets, health bonuses, and a rocket launcher. (sector 231) Hell knights will spawn in when you pick up the rocket launcher.
 * 9) Near the door leading to secret #8, open the green panel wall to the right of the steps for a small cave with armor and health bonuses, a medikit, a shotgun and a computer area map. (sector 65)
 * 10) In the room immediately to the left of the entrance staircase of the grey UAC building, the opening with the red and blue computer displays can be accessed by the small step with the candle. From that ledge, walk near the displays and when you hear the sound of a lift, immediately run to the east side of this room to pick up the newly-revealed backpack. (sector 593)
 * 11) The left of secret #10 there is a green-wired wall with a brown-wired opening at the bottom right beside a candle. If you have the yellow key, use the wall to open the green-wired wall, revealing a lever switch. (sector 613)
 * 12) In the room north of the blue keycard, there is a deep vat of nukage with a cacodemon in it. There is a small amount of ammo of all types at the bottom (sector 499) of the pool.
 * 13) After picking up the blue keycard, head into the room north of the starting point to find a closet with Hell knights has opened. Enter it and press on the recessed wall next to the crate for another lever switch. (sector 628)
 * 14) The nukage river in the room just north of the starting point is hard to wade across because of the current. Look at the translucent slimefall at the start of it and you will see a door behind it that you can open, revealing a corridor you can head through and a new area. (sector 666)
 * 15) If you've flipped all the lever switches in other secrets, the small door in the northwest of secret #14 will be open. Go down the hall to the yellow key door and flip the switch in the room behind it to lower both the plasma gun (sector 778) and the walls around you with various monsters.
 * 16) Flip the green switch next to the red keycard's location and go beyond the blue key door, and you'll see a red-blue switch on the right wall. Flip it to raise a step so you can climb on the tree garden. Head around from here and then jump out the window to a small yard with supplies and monsters. (sector 1606) The green switch is not strictly mandatory: you can still access the switch by pressing the wall exactly where the switch would be (just south of the ceiling lights).

Non-official
If you had flipped the switches in Secrets #5, #11, and #13, you will be able to access the yellow door past the corridor in Secret #14. Before the yellow door, and only if you are playing on Ultra-Violence or higher, if you wait five minutes after the level starts, a door will open to the north revealing a teleporter. If you get in it before it closes, you will enter a tribute room with dead monsters and a shotgun, as well as the words "STEVE COHEN 1957-2011" written on the floor. This area does not count towards the secret total.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on April 3, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains thirteen spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 5)
 * 2) facing west. (thing 68)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 107)
 * 4) facing north-east. (thing 146)
 * 5) facing north-east. (thing 172)
 * 6) facing east. (thing 319)
 * 7) facing north. (thing 324)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 340)
 * 9) facing south. (thing 426)
 * 10) facing south. (thing 430)
 * 11) facing east. (thing 452)
 * 12) facing west. (thing 613)
 * 13) facing south. (thing 682)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Technical information
Delayed Exit

In the exit elevator, when the switch is flipped, the map does not end immediately. Instead, the door closes and the elevator begins to lower for a short while before the level ends.

In this map, this is accomplished with a series of voodoo dolls in six control carrying sectors, all controlled by a pair of linedefs with special 253. The voodoo dolls are unable to move as they are stuck in or behind doors in these control sectors. Five of them are the same length, with a trigger line 64 units away from the voodoo doll's starting position. Each of these controls the descent of each of the five sectors comprising the elevator, so as to ensure that the elevator's geometry remains constant as it descends. The sixth is longer, and contains two trigger lines just ahead of the voodoo doll which seal the entrance to the exit elevator, as well as a "walkover exit" line 320 units away from the voodoo doll.

When the switch in the exit elevator is pressed, all it does is to open the doors in the control sectors. Since all the voodoo dolls are released at the same time and move at the same speed, this sequence of events happens:


 * The entrance to the exit elevator seals.
 * After a while, the elevator starts descending.
 * After a few more seconds, the map ends.